


Stay Alive

by Castryn



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Hange Zoë & Levi Are Best Friends, Hange z, Hurt/Comfort, Light Angst, Mild Language, Other, Protective Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-06
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 00:01:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29234187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Castryn/pseuds/Castryn
Summary: "Levi felt his blood run cold, his eyes widening and his heart pounding in his ears; he turned to Erwin who just gave him a quick nod, and immediately nudged his horse to take off, following Moblit. 'You better stay alive you shitty glasses idiot'"
Relationships: Levi & Hange Zoë, Levi/Hange Zoë, LeviHan, Moblit Berner & Hange Zoë
Comments: 6
Kudos: 80





	1. Race Against Titans

**Author's Note:**

> Just a short two chapter fanfic for one of my favorite ships

Levi huffed what was probably his hundredth frustrated sigh that day; he stood alongside Commander Erwin, overlooking a scout regiment mission. Levi made it abundantly clear that he'd prefer to be down in the action, fighting alongside the others, but his leg was still recovering from the bullshit with the female titan and the brats, so here he was: suited up with his ODM gear, astride his horse, but stuck on stand-by. He heard Erwin chuckle at his frustration and made sure to pointedly ignore him.

"Cap.. captain Levi, sir!" Levi and Erwin faced the direction the voice called from, seeing a panicky Moblit running towards them; Levi's eyes narrowed as he took in how anxious the young man was... and the blood that coated his hands and shirt.

"What is it? What's the matter?"

"It's Section leader Hange, sir! The leader's been severely injured; I was sent to get help!" 

Levi felt his blood run cold, his eyes widening and his heart pounding in his ears; he turned to Erwin who just gave him a quick nod, and immediately nudged his horse to take off, following Moblit. _'You better stay alive you shitty glasses idiot'_ he thought grimly. 

As the two of them raced to the area Moblit had left Hange, they'd only had to deal with two 4 meter tall titans on the way that Levi handled with deadly precision. It wasn't until they reached the edge of the forest where Hange was slumped over on an upper branch of one of the taller pines that they encountered a large cluster of half a dozen titans made up of varying sizes, clustered around the tree; two of the smaller ones were already attempting to climb it.

"Oi! Four-eyes!" he yelled in their direction, chills running down his spine when there were no signs of movement. "You better damn well be alive so I can kick your ass for dragging me and my injured leg all the way out here! Y'hear me? Stay the fuck alive you damn idiot!" he then turned to Moblit "You ready to uphold your duty and save your leader? I need to know I can count on you; I can't do it on my own with this shitty leg of mine."

"Yes Captain Levi!" Moblit replied with a quick nod, his eyes blown wide with fear and his lip quivered ever so slightly, but his eyes flashed with determination.

They got to work, activating their gear and launching from the horses onto the nearest trees, Levi sweeping out at a wide enough angle to drop one of the larger titans on his way. "Go for the hands of the ones on the trees" he ordered Moblit who nodded and promptly slashed the wrists of both of the climbers, causing them to crash on top of one of the remaining titans at the pine's trunk, giving Levi the opening he needed to take out the other two still on their feet before landing on the same branch as Hange.

"Keep an eye on those bastards for me, will yah? Keep your distance and only engage if neccessary." he shouted at the younger soldier before he turned to Hange, relying on years of training and unfortunate loss to clamp down on his bubbling anxiety.

The usually exuberant officer lay on their left side, completely motionless; a large gash on the abdomen, hastily self banadaged, was already heavily saturated with blood. There was another hastily patched injury along the right temple as well, with bruising spreading down the side of a face paled with bloodloss, while various scrapes and bruises marred the other visible areas of skin. As he knelt beside her, his fingers trembled as they pressed against her throat, feeling for a pulse; he breathed a audible sign of relief when he felt the gentle thrum of a heartbeat, slower and more thready than he'd like, but still there - still alive.

"Damnit Hange, what happened?" he muttered more to himself than anything as he pressed a soft kiss to her forehead.   
"Oi, Hange. C'mon four-eyes, you need to wake up. Wake up! Hange, wake up!" he gently shook a shoulder, each word slightly louder than the last, but other than a slight whimper of pain with the movement, he was given no response. "Fuck it, you just rest and I'll get you back safely, but I'm definitely kicking your ass for this shit once you've healed"

Gathering up Hange in his arms was more difficult than he anticipated with his leg and their stark height difference, but his short stubborn ass had never been one to back down from a challenge before and this moment seemed like a real shitty time to start. He heaved himself up onto his feet, gritting his teeth against the stab of pain in his leg, holding Hange close to his chest, the wild captain's head settled on his shoulder, the long tangled mop of hair falling out of it's hairtie and draped down his back. Levi rested his cheek against the top of her head for just a brief moment, drawing the resolve he needed to get moving with each of her ragged breaths he felt puff against his neck. Immediately after, he called out to Moblit that he had her and they needed to get going. They swung down over and past the few straggling titans to their horses, and took off back to the formation, making it back in record time.

* * *

"Go find a field medic; quickly!" he ordered Moblit, ignoring the flash of fear in the young soldier's face; he chirped a quick "On it, Captain!" before taking off. Levi made his way to the nearest empty cart and, with the help of a fellow scout, was able to haul Hange up into it and lay her down on her back; he tugged off his cloak and bundled it up, slipping it under Hange's head to serve as a makeshift pillow while unbuttoning her own worn and bloodied cloak, wrapping it around her front to help keep in the warmth. 

"We're back with the others" he spoke softly while gently tucking the cloak around her shoulders and chest "I did my part and got your dumbass back here safe, now I need you to hold up your end and Just. **Stay. Alive!** " his hand cupped the uninjured side of her face, thumb brushing the cheek, his other taking hold of and gripping her hand in his own. "We have so much work to do and you know the rest of these idiots can't do even half of what you do. Humanity needs you. ... _ **I** _need you" the last three words barely a whisper, for her ears only.

"Captain! We're here, sir!" he looked up as Moblit and the medic clambered up into the cart; nodding he stepped back to drop onto the bench, close enough to be able to still hand Hange's hand, but far enough back to give the medic room to work. The two words ' _Stay alive_ ' echoed in his mind like a mantra.


	2. The Journey Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hange wakes up and her and Levi have a quiet moment together, of course with some berating on Levi's part for her being so reckless.

Hange groaned as conciousness started sluggishly creeping back in, immediately regretful as her whole body seemed riddled with pain; the first was a throbbing headache, then there was a searing pain in her abdomen, and every joint and muscle burned with a dull ache. A rough bump of what felt like it must be a cart she was laying on, sent a wave of pain crashing through her system and she failed to bite back a cry of pain, eyes snapping open and blinking past a few stray tears.

At first, all she could make out was darkness, and for a brief moment she feared she may have lost her eyesight; but no, there was the occasional blurry orange haze in her peripheral vision, and she noticed absently that her googles were missing. Hange also realized with some comfort that if she squinted, she could vaguely make out stars scattered across the night sky, the tiny spots of light had always been a comfort, even at a young age.

Suddenly the stars vanished from her view as the blurry face of one grumpy Captain Levi hovered over her, an unexpected fearful expression hidden deeply there. " **Hange**!" his voice even a sense of urgency to it.

" _Hey...shorty_ " she mumbled, shocked by how course her voice sounded and the way her throat felt like sandpaper, she gratefully accepted the water Levi offered as well as his help raising just her head enough to drink it without choking. "What's with the face? You look constipated" she gave a weak smirk when this earned her a mildly annoyed " _tsk_ " and eyeroll.

"You nearly fucking died, you idiot" he grumbled in return, his hand that she hadn't noticed was clinging to hers giving it a gentle squeeze. "I fucking swear-"

"All the time" she agreed, interrupting him with another weak grin. "It really is quite extensive too, y'know? Should consider cleaning it up" and if looks could kill, she might actually have died from the scowl he was giving her, but she proudly noticed there was an exasperatedly fond glimmer in his eyes chasing out some of the fear she had first noticed when waking.

"I should have let the damn titans eat you." he said with a snort. "But seriously, don't you _**ever**_ fucking do this to me again. I thought you were gonna die, four-eyes." and there was the ever so slightest waver in his voice at the end, something Hange knew very few other people would have noticed. 

She responded by using the hand he was holding to bring his hand to her face to press her lips against his knuckles. Levi gave a soft sigh and pulled back far enough to open his hand and press his palm against her cheek, and a quiet hum when Hange leaned into the touch, her deep brown eyes meeting his steely grey and expressing all the things the two never needed words to say.

"Speaking of, where are my googles? Please don't tell me they've been lost?" she surprised herself with the almost mourning tone in her voice. Alas, the mourning came in vain as Levi reached into his jacket's pocket with his free hand and pulled them out; the lenses were a little scratched but overall they were intact and still perfectly functional.

"The medic needed to have them taken off so he could treat your head injury" Hange lifted a hand up and felt the course bandage wrapped around her forhead; ' _Ah, well that explains the headache'_ she thought almost bitterly.

"Medic also says to leave them off for the time being so you don't risk upsetting the injury, so you'll have to rely on your shitty glasses for the next few days"

"That's alright, Moblit should have my..." but she faltered midsentence, suddenly remembering the confrontation with the abnormal titan that ended with her injury and, more importantly: _Moblit was there when it happened! **Where was he now?!**_

Hange jackknifed into an upright position while gasping out " _ **Moblit**_!" she realized her mistake too late when her entire right side erupted with a white hot pain, causing her to cry out and clutch her side, falling backwards and bracing for a painful impact... that never came. Instead she felt a strong arm wrap around her back, holding her up, and a loud disapproving ' _tsk_ ' from Levi.

"Oi! Don't make such sudden moments like that four-eyes!" he snapped sliding behind her to support her against his chest, arms wrapping around her protectively. "You've got some pretty serious injuries, especially in your gut, and jerking around like an idiot like that could reopen the wounds!"

"Sorry" she mumbled through a clenched jaw, her whole body trembling from the pain; after a few pained breaths she managed to gasp out "...Moblit! Is he...?" she trailed off, tone fearful.

"Alive and well, along with the rest of your squad" Levi responded soothingly, resting his chin on her shoulder. "Kid even managed to prove he's not a total idiot and helped me save you; should probably thank him by actually _listening_ when he tells you to eat or sleep next time."

"Helped you? But... Levi! _Your leg_!" she turned her head slightly to meet his eyes, her own widening. "You could have been hurt! or worse!"

He grunted and tipped his head to lightly tap his forehead against the top of her head. "Says the shitty glasses who was bleeding out, nearly dying in such an idiotic way. You're too smart to not know there was no way in hell I was gonna sit back and let you die." Hange hummed in response.

"Then thank you for saving me shorty; and for looking after my squad for me." she said softly, her words trailing off into a yawn; knowing that her soldiers and Levi were both safe calmed her nerves, and after the sudden exertion and spike of adrenaline, she felt exhaustion starting to creep in. Her eyes began to droop and she slumped heavily against Levi, nestling her face into the crook of his neck. Levi brought a hand up to gently stroke her hair and pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Get some rest, Hange. We have a few more hours till we're back in the walls" he spoke softly. Hange could feel the rise and fall of his chest against her back with each of his breaths, and let the steady rythm of it lull her to sleep. The last thing she heard before she drifted off was the quiet whisper " _Thank you for staying alive_."


End file.
